Photographer: Sally Mann

Location: Unknown

This photo by Sally Mann reminds me of the phrase, "monkey-see, monkey-do" in the sense that children will follow in the footsteps of their parents. The child's pose and expression reminds me of a middle aged woman who seems unhappy with her life. With this photo being in black and white, you can see the subject focus is put intently on the girl, her "cigarette" and the floating figure in the back which gives a feeling of a hanging corpse. This photo plays with innocence being contaminated and a sense of morbidity and death. Having such strong highlights and deep shadows helps keep the girl on the right out of focus so that she doesn't take the attention away from the main part of the photo: the ties between the girl, her cigarette and the floating corpse.